Stephen Bramall
Posts by Stephen Bramall
2021 – Is a BoJo – MoJo recovery in sight?
It’s a reasonable assumption, if not a certainty, that Boris Johnson will not look back on 2020 with much fondness. And 2021 hasn’t got off to a great start for him, with the new virus strain ripping through the population and a national lockdown likely to be in place until Easter. Who would have believed […]
Friday 13th: Could this be the day that Boris Johnson saved his premiership?
In western culture Friday the 13th is seen by many as a deeply unlucky day. But for Boris Johnson Friday 13th November 2020 may turn out to be a very lucky day indeed. It might even be the day that he saved his premiership. The sudden dramatic, and very public, departure of Lee Cain, his […]

Devolution versus centralisation
One of the issues that must surely exercise minds in Whitehall over the coming weeks and months is whether there is any justification in pushing the devolution agenda in England even further or whether, on the contrary, the COVID-19 pandemic has so changed the political and policy landscape that we might even see the devolution […]

The inconsistent government approach to transport and coronavirus
The transport industry is well and truly on its knees. Bus and rail patronage is down by anything between 90 and 95%, while airlines have grounded entire fleets. There is almost no part of the transport industry that has been untouched by coronavirus – from public transport and coach operators, to airlines and airports, to […]

May’s Brexit Showdown
Could next week, 12th June to be precise, signal the beginning of the end for Theresa May’s leadership of the Conservative Party? Will she succeed in reversing the amendments to the EU (Withdrawal) Bill made by the House of Lords; will she be forced to concede some of the amendments in order to overturn others, […]

Thoughts on the Rail Strategy
Hot on the heals of the government’s Industrial Strategy, the Department for Transport has published its latest strategy for the railways. The headline grabbing stuff about opening up new routes to unlock housing and development sounds exciting enough, and probably is if it all comes to pass, but aside from plans for the new East […]